Learning JavaScript

This is an exciting time to learn JavaScript. Now that the latest JavaScript specification—ECMAScript 6.0 (ES6)—has been finalized, learning how to develop high-quality applications with this language is easier and more satisfying than ever. This practical book takes programmers (amateurs and pros alike) on a no-nonsense tour of ES6, along with some related tools and techniques. 

Author Ethan Brown (Web Development with Node and Express) not only guides you through simple and straightforward topics (variables, control flow, arrays), but also covers complex concepts such as functional and asynchronous programming. You’ll learn how to create powerful and responsive web applications on the client, or with Node.js on the server.

•  Use ES6 today and transcompile code to portable ES5

•  Translate data into a format that JavaScript can use

•  Understand the basic usage and mechanics of JavaScript functions

•  Explore objects and object-oriented programming

•  Tackle new concepts such as iterators, generators, and proxies

•  Grasp the complexities of asynchronous programming

•  Work with the Document Object Model for browser-based apps

•  Learn Node.js fundamentals for developing server-side applications

Who This Book Is For

This book is primarily for readers who already have some experience with programming (even an introductory programming class, or an online course). If you’re new to programming, this book will be helpful, but you might want to supplement it with an introductory text or class. Those who already have some JavaScript experience (especially if it’s only in ES5) will find a practical and thorough coverage of important language concepts. Programmers who are coming from another language should feel right at home with the content in this book. 

This book does attempt to comprehensively cover the language features, related tools, techniques, and paradigms that drive modern JavaScript development. Therefore, the material in this book necessarily ranges from the simple and straightforward (variables, control flow, functions) to the complicated and esoteric (asynchronous programming, regular expressions). Depending on your level of experience, you may find some chapters more challenging than others: the beginning programmer will no doubt need to revisit some of the material more than once.

About the Author

Ethan Brown is a senior software engineer at Pop Art, a Portland-based interactive marketing agency, where he is responsible for the architecture and implementation of web sites and web services for clients ranging from small businesses to international enterprise companies. He has over twenty years of programming experience, from embedded to the web, and has embraced the JavaScript stack as the web platform of the future.